Aspects of establishing the shelf life and spoilage of ice cream. A review

The aim of this research is to analyze approaches to establishing ice cream shelf life and determining its defects and the causes of their occurrence during production and storage. Structural elements of ice cream are distributed and migrate within the non-freezing concentrated plasma, which can lead to crystal fusion and the enlargement of air bubbles during long-term storage. These processes, along with oxidative changes in the fat phase, are recognized as the main causes of ice cream spoilage during storage. It has been established that the dispersion of structural elements in ice cream significantly changes with repeated temperature fluctuations during storage. Therefore, it is important to establish objective shelf life for ice cream. Given the reserve, the research process for standardizing shelf life is lengthy, necessitating its prediction and determination using accelerated methods. Reliable analysis of structural elements requires the use of non-destructive testing methods such as Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron X-ray tomography, and cryoscanning electron microscopy. A key requirement for longterm storage of ice cream without loss of quality is achieving the glass transition temperature, which is influenced by the presence of low-molecular-weight substances in the product and the freezing rate. Differential scanning calorimetry is widely used to determine the glass transition in food products. Air bubbles are particularly unstable during the production process due to the abrupt pressure change when the ice cream exits the freezer. At temperatures above –18 °C, air bubble instability manifests itself as disproportionation, aggregation, and drainage. During long-term ice cream storage, the interaction between air bubbles led to the formation of channels, which cannot be studied using optical microscopy. The chemical type of spoilage (oxidation of the fat phase) is taken into account to a lesser degree in ice cream production. Research is underway to objectively assess this phenomenon and validate the research methods. The possibility of using generally accepted methods for determining oxidation indicators (peroxide and anisidine values) and their combined assessment using the TOTEX value is being considered. Less commonly used is the spectrophotometric method, which uses thiobarbituric acid to determine malondialdehyde levels. A review of the literature indicates a lack of data on ice cream quality parameters during storage and the need for further research to obtain reliable, objective data.

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